


Swimming Lessons and Freckled Legs

by PandorasWritingDesk



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz, The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: ALSO DANIEL IS LE DIK, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Cause i hate him, Gonna be swearing, I have strange mermaid science, I killed off sam, Its for that Triton reference, M/M, Protect Ari and his angst self tho, Slow Burn, The boys are princes, They're on a island colonized by Spain cause heritage, im so sorry, im sorry, its a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2018-12-01 19:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11493240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandorasWritingDesk/pseuds/PandorasWritingDesk
Summary: Aristotle is taught how to swim by a mermaid with the brightest smile he's ever seen. But when he is saved after a storm he awakes next to a boy wrapped around him with no idea where the creature went.





	1. A Dark Skinned Boy

**Author's Note:**

> So I only two chapters of this, put if it goes well, I'll keep working at it. 
> 
> So this is just your standard Little Mermaid AU but with my swim boys. Hope it's good.

Aristotle tried very hard not to yawn as his father’s naval expert explained how to steer the sailboat for the fifth time that morning. He really strained himself to focus only on the man before him instead of the sparkling teal waters. It didn't take long before he had his entire left arm in the water, searching for a fish or even a shell if he was lucky as clouds of white sand enveloped his fingers. He wondered how chaotic this simple gesture was to the creatures below that barrier. How did fish deal with all the shit that got thrown into the ocean on the daily? Maybe that's why fishing was so uneventful, they're all too fed up with humans to even take food from them. Or they were just smart. Ari wasn't sure.

He ignored the man scolding him. It was the usually, ‘How can the prince of a country whose stock is entirely placed in major trade not want to sail’ shitic. He'd gotten sick of it by the time he was fourteen. He was almost eighteen now, he'd be coronated in about two months time but he still refused to learn an iota on how to sail. Mostly because the teacher still couldn't swim.

The same dote who thought he needed to know knots to properly rule a country also had no fucking clue how to swim. Did that stop him from trying to teach the young prince? Hell no. God was it patronizing. “You can do long division better than the guy who teaches it but how are you going to be a King if you can't sail a boat?” How about by keeping the economy his father was still fixing afloat? Or decreasing the straining military budget so, you know, people outside the palace walls could eat? Christ, there hadn't been a war since his father was 21. The man was nearly 55 now! Did wars really concern their land much? Hell, it was his quick thinking that kept his father’s advisors from plunging them into three centuries of debt with the virgining British isles. How could they not see that signing over trade meant bringing down all their country stood for? That it would mean the end of their productivity and the fall of their ports. He was lucky his father listened to him, honestly. Yet did that make any of his father's advisors take him seriously? No.

He groaned as the teacher yelled at him from behind. He bit his lip to keep from screaming at him. Instead he stood up, shaking off drops before stepping over to apologize through gritted teeth. He trudged after the snot nosed advisor but buried his rage as he stared out at the waves. He wanted to just leap in and swim away, all the way to Spain or Portugal. But he knew the minute he touched the water, his muscles would spasm as he tried to swim like he always did. He thought it'd be better to drown than listen to this asshole talk about one more sailboat voyage.

Underneath the water, a bright giggle filled the warm sea as Dante expertly dodged the angry lashing limbs of his companion Daniel. Dante was a bright eyed prince, with his slick grey and brown speckled monk seal tail almost smacking Daniel across his red tinted face, making his brown eyes crinkle in mirth. Daniel’s dull teal Bass tail, lashed after the slightly tanner boy, propelling him backwards. Dante was more than aware that he should be with his tutor, discussing how to revive coral or bring down ships, but he had a better schedule, regardless of what Daniel thought.

“Dante, you're going to get us in trouble!”  
The younger merboy only scoffed. “So what? Do you want that idiot to tell you how awful the surface is? I'm sick of him and his old ways. I bet he hasn't even talked to a single land-dweller..”  
“I'd hope so, given that it's against the law! Dante, humans aren't something you get obsessed over! Do you want them to eat you?!”  
“Humans don't eat seals, seaweed brain.”  
“They make coats out of them though!”  
“Ugh!,” Dante growled as he propelled himself away from the shimmering scales flickering behind him.

If Daniel was anymore of a killjoy he'd stay inside all day and actually try to find a way to mutate the humans into their own kind. Which was really just depressing to think about. Dante had his fair share of encounters with careless fishermen and their nets but he'd also talked with small children and even wise men who spoke of more truth than any of the elders inside his kingdom did. He couldn't hate his mother for her ban, his father had been murdered by a human fisherman. He missed his Dad, more than anything, but that didn't make humans evil. Not in the slightest.

The merboy began to slow as he felt tremors in the water nearby. He halted, turning to see a ship not more than two meters away from him. It wasn’t moving far, watching it bob and turn towards him. He eased himself to the side, Daniel forgotten as the vibrations slowed before the spiked dramatically. A small shadow made a column on the sea floor underneath his tail. Dante froze, his flared flipper circling behind him as he saw a hand not far away dip into the water. Their fingers were slim and brushed at the sand with deft touch.

What caught Dante was his skin, it was like dark soil that he’d sometimes kick up when the mud ran into the ocean after storms. The fingers pressed into the sand before taking a fist of the grains and letting it slip between fingertips. The water was so clear that the dust cloud spread underneath the vessel and drifted in the current like a fish. Dante swam towards the bobbing boat, ducking behind a tall rock that framed the vessel, formed by the mountains far, far above. He let a smile slip as the fingers made a swirling cone out of the sand puff, wanting to kick a cloud to try and gain the owner of the hand’s attention. He didn't see any hooks but the speed of the boat was worrisome. Why would anyone let their boat crawl through such shallow waters?

That was when the hand jerked up, the water vibrating with the tiny droplets sparkling the surface. Dante felt an urge to swim up to it but that seemed like it would just startle or hurt him. He opted to peak up from the rock, clawing his way quickly with his sharp nails. Instead of being met by the soil skinned person, the first man he saw was old and pale, similar to himself in skin tone. The man was berating someone who he could only see from the mound of his bun. Soft looking, wavy chocolate hair was held upon the dark skinned boy’s skull in a wide, sprawled semi-circle. Dante’d never seen hair that long on anyone but his mother, who barely moved out of grief and let her own grow to remember the last cut Sam had given it.

Dante had to tighten his grip as the boy straightened himself, showing his well built body and towering form. The boy had his arms crossed over his practically bare chest, with a snarl clear on his lips as he righted himself. Dante wonder what those lips looked like when they were pulled into a smile. He leaned on the rock, hugging it against his chest as he listened to the pale man yell at him in Spanish, he assumed, making the dark boy ball his hands into fist and his eyes to narrow. Even without understanding, the anger in the words felt unwarranted. He couldn't help but think of tipping over the small vessel just to fuck with him.

Ari prayed he could find an excuse to strangle the raving imbecile. He just kept going on and on about how Aristotle couldn't be a king if he couldn't even sail. As if he couldn't afford to let a captain take him to other kingdoms. Or take large ships to go to another country. Where you needed a crew of eight to even get out of the harbor. Hell, he was natural captain when his father let him take control of ships. He didn't need sailing skills for anything but pleasantries and his parents were more than aware. Unlike this creton. A man who couldn’t swim and couldn’t focus in a single council meeting honestly thought that Aristotle was below him? He’d be quick to prove that wrong.

“If I can’t sail, does that mean that maybe I should steer a ship instead?” Dante was smiling softly as he heard the sure voice vibrate through the air. It matched him extremely well, making his confidence boldly prominent. “You've given the reigns to me, and did your crew fall to shambles?”

The older man fisted his hands like Daniel would when he let out a grunted “no”. Dante had to hold back a chuckle.

“So, you owe me more respect don't you? You act as if I recently learned how to walk instead of ensuring my father’s work wasn't turned to utter shatters. My mother refuses to even speak to you after what you did to my brother, don't make me tell her you belittled me too.”

Dante had to hold back shivers. This boy was terrifying when he wasn't gorgeous. He liked that. Even more than he liked his sure smirk as the older man stared up at him in utter shock. The dark boy went to the other side of the ship and stepped into the waistline waters, wading ashore as the wrinkled man was left stuttering. Dante watched as he waved to another man, broader but just as pale as the glaring man on the boat. He wondered how his skin got that dark if no one else’s was. He’d seen his kind with skin that matched the boy’s dark curls but never really on land until now. He smiled as the advisor dragged the dinghy through the sand, cursing in a foreign tongue the whole way.


	2. The Cove

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've had this fir a while and just kinda forgot and since school's starting up I figured I should post to have it.

The second time Dante saw the dark skinned boy, Daniel was miles away. He couldn’t really recall why they were friends outside his heritage to his tutor, so he had been avoiding him more and more ever since he told him about the strong dark skinned boy. It had been about two weeks since their talk but one thing remained crystal clear: Daniel was livid.

“Dante, you idiot! Did you even think for one moment before you shot up through the water?! I don’t care what the guy looked like, you could’ve been seen! We were right next to the busiest part of the pier, not even five meters away. On top of that, you had the audacity to actually watch this human and learn his language? You can be killed, Dante! I know your mother wouldn’t harm you, not after her loss, but learning human tongue, wanting to speak it, god that’s simply vile.” At this point, fishermen who saw the uproar of bubbles assumed a small underwater volcano had burst its top and worried if it was nearby. “And the description! ‘Dark skinned like a god”?! “Divine, a nymph amoung sailors?” Praise Trition, you like him don’t you.”

“Eh,” Dante accented it with a half hearted shrug. He was already learning to tone out the high pitch squeal that was Daniel’s rage lecture.  
But, the shrug just made him yell louder. Dante noticed that his scales were covered in the reflection of red from his face. “You are infatuated with the same people who killed your own family and all you have to say is a mutter of syllables??!! Dante, when I die, it will be dragging you fin first into a boiling volcano. You can’t love a human, they aren’t us. They are disgusting. They eat fish! Why would you eat such kind creatures?!”

“Daniel, we eat them too, that’s what the sharp teeth are for.”  
Daniel just growled as he ranted on. “And they catch us and mummify us and drive our bodies around for entertainment. He’ll turn you into a statue or a figure head on his wall or an exotic dinner or slice your tail off.”  
“That wouldn’t be bad. I always wanted a dolphin’s anyway.”

“This isn’t funny, Dante! Do you want him to kill you?! Do you want to hurt your mother again.”

That one made Dante stop fiddling with his flippers. No one spoke about his mother like she was broken. Dante socked more noses at age eight than any kid he knew, just because people tried to baby his mother. He didn’t hold himself from doing the same to the red faced dumbass.

“You fucking asshole. Never say that shit about Soledad ever fucking again.”  
He swam away before he could hear Daniel’s retort. He hadn’t even gone back to the colony since then besides swimming straight to court to talk with his mother, consoling mostly and insuring he was safe. He held her close and kissed her before he left into the waters again. He knew she trusted him to come back and she wouldn’t need to know his rage until it had settled. It wouldn't until he meet the boy face to face. Dante had to prove to himself that he was worth all that he was risking.

He went to the pier, watched every toe dip on the shallows and prayed to hear the dark skinned boys gruff voice but it didn't come. Only look alikes with cropped hair and high voices. Dante ignored the others, waiting alone. He had come for one purpose, ensuring the boy was what he thought he was, someone he would love.

He huddled at the piers, searching constantly to find him. Still, it took ages just to see him running off to the cove. His legs were pumping and Dante heard shouts from the pier the moment the dark feet hit the sand. He yelled out to him calling him to the cave underneath the pier with a trench deep enough to hide in that still went out to the little alcove of a lagoon where he first saw him. Somehow the dark boy heard him and scurried into the cave mouth, thinking it was barely even large enough for him to stand in.

“Over here, to your left. Follow the light.”

The dark skinned boy jolted at the high voice. It was soft and ragged in every conflicting way, the voice vaguely feminine but still with a strong sureness he only heard in teenage boys. He did as the voice said, fearing he’d cut himself on the silver salt crystals but when he put his hand forward he fell through, nearly slipping on his face as he saw the steep cavern hidden away in the shimmering pocket. He gripped the side as he walked into an echoing chamber, his scuffling footsteps drowning out his breath and heartbeat. He let out a gasp as he saw the gleaming teal waters that lapped at the crystal coated cove. He'd heard of the Pink Salt caves multiple times but he'd never been inside of one. He thought the oasis was pure speculation.

Dante let out a giggle as he saw the dark skinned boy’s wide mouth. He stopped as his heated black eyed fell upon him though. His upper half was pressed on a rock, arms folded under him with his wagging tail just out of sight. The prince tilted his head at the sickly looking boy in the sparkling water. His hair was hastily cut with cowlicks plastered to his face by water, dark black against barely tanned skin. Except, it looked odd. The hair was plastered to his cheeks and neck, not his forehead. His skin wasn't pale but it wasn't tanned either, a kind of drained melon shade. He looked otherworldly, his eyes a shade of green as bright as the sea in the early summer afternoon. Ari was transfixed. Dante was turning pink under his eyes.

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you before.”  
Dante swallowed, moving closer to the shore, curling his tail underneath him. “I’m not from town. My dad’s a fisherman, I went off to swim for a while and I found this spot. This is my favorite place.”

Ari looked around the room, stepping closer to the bank as he let his fingers brush over the tips of crystals, stilling at the end of the wall, able to see the boy was hidden away in a pocket of solid rock with a spire he was gripping to pull himself from the water. It was like he was rising from a tide pool but he would fall into a trench if he let go. It was… confusing to even look at.

“What are you in? There can't be a trench there."

The boy nodded, smiling gripping the edge as he swam back, the deep water letting his tail move without being seen, going around towards the dark boy. “Narrow as hell but, really, really deep. Mind your step, most of those pockets are holes right into the Atlantic. It's how I found it. The tide down there swept me in and the erosion made a trench right there while all this,” he pointed to the numerous pockets of stone “goes even deeper. Lucky I actually got to live to see this, huh?”

Ari nodded, eyes wide as he stepped closer, the boy’s grin widening as he let go of the tower of rock to swim up to the edge of the stone ring. The dark boy had the nicest teeth Dante’d ever seen. And his lips weren't anything to glance over either. He was so busy watching them form syllables, his ears forgot to translate them.

“Uh….” Dante felt like he'd dive back into the sea if the black eyes dug any deeper into him. “What was that?”  
“How'd you live? It's impossible to breathe that long in the current that deep if I'm thinking properly and survive. How could you breathe?”

Dante bit his lip, certain his sharpened teeth were showing. Triton, he really wanted to tell him. He really should honestly, just do a flip and get put in a tank so he could stare at the boy until his tail was cut off. He had to, he was just too perfect. Hell the fact he saw such a clear flaw when literally every human he'd met so far assumed he was truthful made him feel he had earned knowing what he was hiding.

Dante gripped his shoulder before sighing heavily. “I'll show you if you promise not to yell. I know it's weird but I'm not an animal.” The dark boy stepped closer, eyes softening.  
“Do you think I'll be scared? Of what?”  
“These mostly,” Dante sighed as he palmed his gills before ducking down to flick his strong tail. He bobbed up to meet the wide eyes and open mouth of the dark skinned boy.

“You have a tail?”  
“Most merpeople do.”  
“You're a merperson? You call yourself that?”  
“Well, no but when every human I’ve met asks me if I am one, it's easy to piece together that's what you call us.”  
“What do you call yourself then?”  
“Sirens,” Dante purred with a smirk. “At least in your tongue.”

Ari watched as a pair of flared fin unfolded from the patches of wet hair that had hidden them, startling chromatic and his eyes grew black as he leaned forward, like a seal or a manatee.

“And what are you, exactly? You have a seal’s tail and eyes but carry gills and fins? Were you poorly researched in your design?”

Dante’s shoulders shook as if he was laughing but the noise was almost a squeak of an unusually huge rodent. “You could call my parents’ marriage that but I doubt they'd appreciate it. All sirens have a multitude of features but the strongest can carry whale and seal genes. My mother’s part dolphin and chromis and my father carried seal and chromis. One was more dominant so, it carried through. Still upset I'm not a dolphin though. I admire their openness to people, despite their violent tendencies.”

“.... huh. And you helped me cause?”  
Dante grinned, teeth shimmering. “I saw you on your boat with an old man. I'm intrigued by you. Quite a bit. Do you commonly get into squabbles with incompetent men, cause I could not relate with you more if you do.”  
Aristotle smiled, dipping his finger into the water slowly, like he was breaching a warm glass. “I don't unless I'm with him. He can't even swim and he thinks he's better than me.”

“Can you swim?”  
Ari felt his face turn warm as he shook his head. The creature grinned, nearly launching himself from the water.

“I can teach you! I know how legs work. We can swim there!” He pointed a webbed finger at the large crystal lit bay, water shallow but deep as it lead to the sea. “Then you can swim with me and be my friend.”  
Aristotle tilted his head, gripping his pants as the mermaid shoved his face closer. “You… you want to be friends?”

Dante chuckled that wheezing sound again. “Of course, silly. I like you. Let's be friends.”  
Ari hummed, biting his lip as he thought. Dante wondered if those canines could dent his flesh.

“I think I'd like swimming lessons from a sea mammal. Are you a mammal?”  
“A what?”  
“Do you give live birth and or have hair?”  
“Uh…. both?”  
“Then you're a mammal. Fish aren't mammals they're a separate classification. Humans like categorizing things.”

“Yeah, a girl told me once. Her dad categorized plants and spices and flowers.”  
Ari hummed, sitting up on his knees. “Well, what do we do now?”  
Dante flashed him a wicked grin. “Wanna kiss me and see if you'll grow a tail.”  
A bright laugh filled the cavern as Aristotle’s cheeks blended with the twinkling glow of the pink salt, Dante letting out a coo that sent droplets flying. Ari thought that laugh sounded more human than most men ever did.


	3. Swimming Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YyyyYYYYYOOOO I'M NOT DEAD! I'M JUST VERY DEPRESED!  
> I saw like six kudos in a week for this and I felt awful about focusing on school work and forgetting my writing but I've done a lot of my soul crushing projects so, have an update and maybe one next week, let's hope.

Aristotle arose in the early morning, far before anyone in the house would’ve thought of rosing awake. It was at the latest five in the morning, but he had class in the cove today. He’d been going for about two weeks, and he wasn’t sure if it was for the classes or the teacher. He dressed himself quickly, carding fingers through his hair to look better for Dante. He complimented him when he tried to look nice. He was the only person who meant it outside his parents.

He hurried downstairs through the servant’s quarters and waved to some of the cooking staff who were starting prep. They were used to him waking up early and threw him a roll of bread and some cheese like every time he wakes up early. He yelled a thanks over the walls of steam and ate as he scurried down to the cellars. Almost immediately after his feet hit the ground, Gina was onto him with a smirk.

“You going off to see a lady at least?”

He just growled through his breakfast before tearing it from his mouth. “Even if I tell you how annoying you are, you’re still gonna get me to the drain pipe.”

Gina just snickered, pulling off her helmet from her leather armour, standard for most all palace guards, even if they looked like they were more prepared for rugby then fighting off foes. Gina was really the only one who could murder a man with only a lacrosse stick though. “Yeah, yeah, depre, let’s just get you out before someone notices.”

Ari shot her a begrudging smirk as she grabbed a torch and helped him down into the drainage. She knew the ways to both avoid chest deep water and keep away from other people. They slew insults back to each other until he was only a couple feet away from the grating and waved Gina as she gave him the bird.

Ari smirked to himself as he slipped through the drain from the palace onto the beach. The sun was just barely peaking over the sea but he knew he would be doing something much more rewarding than sailing lessons today. He shook dust from his hair as he let out a sigh as he was hit with seabreeze. It was everything he loved in the morning. It made him feel free, like none of the shit he needed to do just because of his family. That didn’t matter where he was going.

He found the pink salt cave easily, letting out a soft whistle into the darkness to met a soft coo back. Ari grinned, sliding into the darkness, following the sound of splashing to see the sleek, green scaled upper half of Dante. He sat next to him and let the mermaid take his hand to keep steady, regardless of if that was a lie or not.

“Were you in a hurry. You’ve, uh, got,” he pantomimed a scratch over his cheek. “You got some crumbs on you.”

Ari rubbed away the remnants of his breakfast with a chuckle. “Surprised it took this long for me to do something like that. Just ate on the way.”

Dante hummed, stretching his arms and making them pop. His fins flailed out, sharp teals and silver reflecting off the walls. He leaned over with a hum, flashing his dark eyes up at Ari, sharp teeth in a soft smile.

“Well, I’m glad you aren’t skipping meals for me. Do you wanna wait on lessons?”

Ari shrugged, rubbing his sore shoulder. The one he’d gotten jabbed in during fencing lessons. “I’d rather the sun was a bit higher. I wouldn’t mind it at all.”

Dante smiled, pulling himself further out form the waters, the junction where his hips turned to his tail showing clearly. “Whatcha wanna do?”

Ari chuckled as the merboy leaned on his webbed hand. He shrugged, looking down at his bitten nails. He let out a yelp as he threw water at him with a whip of his tail, turning into a bright laugh as Dante mocked dragging him in. Dante was hugging around his neck as he sat upwards, pulling his upper half from the water, both grinning at each other.

“You’re in a happy mood today.”

Dante nuzzled his neck, teeth against his collarbone. “Uh huh. My mom said I could stay out for a while. Plus, I have a gift for your birthday.”

Ari smiled. He remembered the glint in his eye when he mentioned it as they sat together after one of their swimming lessons. “Oh really? You give each other gifts underwater too?”

Dante chuckled, that gravelly noise that rumbled against his collar. “Yeah. My mom let me stay closer to you for mine.”

Ari hummed, rubbing the scaled shoulder and watching the spines unfurl underneath his fingertips. There was so much of interest just looking at him. Just hearing him voice words that were almost too foreign to be placed but still very clearly words. It was almost magical just hearing him talk and knowing everything he says.

“Why would you want to stay close to me?”

Dante chuckled, sitting up so he could stare into Ari’s dark eyes. “You’re interesting.”

“So are you.”

Dante flashed his sabers and Ari laughed, looking away before he focused on his curled lips any more. It was so strange that he looked so pretty with all of his points and scales.

After a while, the sun warmed Ari’s legs and stood, brushing off the sand and pebbles crusted to his skin. “Should we head out?”

Dante gave him a nod and pecked his shoulder, coaxing a chuckle from the prince. He watched him fake a gulp before he dived down like he always did. Ari walked over to the shore, waiting until he saw a massive seal tail break through the waves. He was far from the shore, enough where he knew Dante’s tail was working to keep his head up. And he had to swim to him.

It was good practice. Probably how mermaids actually taught their young. Stay close and catch them then swim out further and further until they don’t need to get caught. He was getting better at not needing a net.

He waved to Dante, seeing him nod from afar, before stepping into the waist deep waters and rolling up his sleeves. He tried to level his breathing as the waves lapped his chest. He was used to this, but it still froze him up. He had to make a slow transition to being horizontal, had to forget to keep his knees bent, had to keep his head up. He had to keep his arms stretched. He could do it. It wasn’t hard.

He closed his eyes and let himself be swallowed, head up, letting her arms push forward. He didn’t like looking into the dark waves, he just let himself be moved and pushed back through it. He opened his eyes as he felt himself bob in the tide. When he looked forward he could make out Dante’s fins flared out. The lower half of his face was under the water. He bet he was smiling. He grinned, ignoring the slight ache from his left shoulder. It didn’t sting in the water, it felt like he was surrounded in protection. He looked down to see dark, royal blue seas, the trenches Dante used undoubtedly below. But he was far up. He wouldn’t be sucked in. He was safe. He slowed down, becoming more vertical as he neared Dante. He just wanted to look back at how far out he was.

The cavern looked like a diamond from afar, lights flashing in the low lights. He looked back to see Dante waving at him, smile clear and warm in a ocean of cold. He gulped down a breath and began to push forward much faster, head below water with eyes shut tight against the air he was slashing around him. He needed to practice this. It was the best way to keep himself from slowly overworking himself and also move to Dante faster. When the merboy was able to hold him, he was jerked from his focus by webbed hands lifting him out of the water. Aristotle gasped as he was pulled for submersion, met with that gravelly cackle. Dante was elated, practically glowing as he was laughed up at the prince, squeezing him close to his scaled chest as Ari wheezed out a laugh.

“Ah! My big boy can swim. You’re doing so well.” He kissed Ari on the cheek and he fought the chuckle in his throat. He was enamoured with the praise, hugging the rough scales against his damp clothes. His arms felt sore wrapped around Dante’s shoulders. “You tired?”

Ari just hummed, nuzzling his damp hair. Dante patted his wet shoulder before holding him tight by his waist.

“You’re gonna want to take a deep breath.” Ari nodded, screwing his eyes shut as he squeezed shut his nostrils.

Going underwater while a mermaid carried you into a trench was nothing but pure, crushing impact. When Ari opened his eyes, he could see very little other by then the fading light of the surface, purposefully turned away from the depths. He could see fish darting around him, one almost touching his shoulder as the school opened around them. It was all so dazzlingly blue, teal waters turning to sapphire depths and then darkness. The feeling of a vacuum absorbing all thoughts as Ari’s ears popped and the depth started to hurt his chest before he was jettisoned up, lungs bursting as he reached air and Dante brought him to the lip of the hole.

Dante waited until Aristotle’s breath even out, seeing him wipe salt from his eyes and coughing up the water to speak. “You doing okay?”

Ari nodded, gulping air and blinking. “I’m never gonna get used to that.”

Dante hummed, rubbing his knee gently. “You’re okay. You did great today. Are you gonna have to leave soon though?”

Ari shook his head. “Dad’s gonna be annoyed I slipped out of sailing again. I keep telling him I’m teaching myself and that I have someone watching but I think I want to stay here. This is a lot better than being stuck learning nonsense.”

Dante nodded. “I get what you mean. I bet you have friends though.”

Ari nodded, smiling. “A couple of the staff really like me, I’m good friends with the guards and cooks especially, since I see them a lot. You don’t?”

Dante shrugged. “I have two but I can barely see her. She’s into stuff that the advisers who rule everything don’t like so, her and her friends are stuck in their own little cove. And the other isn’t really a great friend right now.”

Ari rubbed his shoulder, giving him a shrug as he leaned on his fist. His spines pulled down when he was upset. “It’s okay. You’ve got me now. Right?”

Dante smiled. “Yeah, I know.”

A comfortable silence fell over them as the watched the sun climb slowly. They couldn’t really think of anything to do so they both just hung around each other and swam when Ari’s arms felt better. The two of them laughed and talked and kept each other close the whole time. Dante listened to him, even more than Gina could. He didn’t have to be around him, he wasn’t his personal guard or have any kind of group affiliation. He was just his friend. His friend coated in scales and spines that could probably skewer fish. And with an awfully cute seal tail.

“Why did you have to ask for permission to stay close by?,” he asked Dante as he ate a gutted bass he’d caught, sitting next to Ari as he scaled his with a small pocket knife. “I assumed you were free to the waves. I mean you’re a prince too right?”

Dante chuckled, stretching his wrists as he swallowed down the raw meat. “You could call me that, but the advisors do more than Soledad. And she’s… she’s worried about me. Constantly worried about me. Because we lost my dad. God, you would’ve loved him. Truly, you would. We all miss him. But they think you’ll murder us all. They tell us to drown you and ensure our survival. It’s disgusting. And she can’t stop them. She’s lost her spirit and her magics. It’s just… too much.”

Ari hummed, letting silence fill the cavern. “I don’t know if you’d like my brother but, I lost him too. I know how it feels. You’d hate my sisters though. It’s a joy they aren’t in the country anymore.” Dante smiled at him, going back to eating as he watched the boy cut into the fish. “Do you want the head?”

Dante nodded and Ari threw it to him chuckling at how he caught it with his teeth. For a moment, Ari wondered if he could stay in the cavern forever and never fear what would come from growing up. He only had a week until he turned eighteen. He didn’t think about the fact that he might not be able to see Dante after he was crowned. He’d never want to think of something so awful. So, he just focus on stripping down the fish while he watched Dante eat with eyes black and void, turning to him with flesh gunked teeth.

He hummed brightly at the fish boy and started up a small fire for the fish as they ate in silence, hoping that when his birthday came he wouldn’t leave him again


	4. A Sea Witch and Personal Advisor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeey so I love Gina and Susie and I thought it'd be great if they both supported the boys so.... Issue's Ursula now. She's so ooc it's unreal but I like it so, meh.

Dante struggled against the strong current as he paddled to the deep trench he knew Susie was hidden away in. He could see the bright bioluminescence she used to light up the cave she lived in. He rapt on the the wall, swimming past the the field of seaweed and anemones she had as a sort of garden. Susie poked her heart shaped face out from a makeshift window formed in the walls, smiling the moment she met his eyes.

“Oh! You’ve been up top for an awfully long time. What are you doing here?”

Dante flashed the eel girl a smile. She had long, curly brown hair and freckles that were starting to blend with her tanned skin from her time away from the sun. Her tail was transparent, and he remembered when she’d flash it through the water and laugh brightly. But she was an eel. And an eel who knew how to use alchemy extremely well. She was too smart apparently, and even though he’d been in up in arms along with his mother in one of her more vocal moments, she said she wanted to be away from the society. He didn’t understand why, but Susie was like that. She was better in her own company.

He gave the eel a shrug as he swam into her home, cauldron shimmering green and pink, likely for a product someone else had come to her for. Susie’s door was open to all and she was happy to provide potions, elixirs, and remedies for any ailment or ‘lessons’ as she called unlucky gifts. Those ‘lessons’ made her be called a witch when discussed in public but to Dante she was just an evolved scientist.

“To be frank, Sus, I need a favor. One that may turn into a lesson.”

Susie’s head jerked up immediately. She hated giving close friends lessons. “Dante. If you know you’re asking for something stupid, please don’t make me do it.”

“I won’t, I really won’t,” he sighed through his gills, making bubbles float from his shoulders. “I just kinda… I gotta at least try this, Sus. Look, I told you about the cute guy right?”

“The human, yeah. He didn’t sound like anything to die for, but he seems nice.”  
Dante just rolled his eyes. “I just want to know if it’s possible for me to turn into a  
human.” He closed his eyes and held out his webbed hands, waiting for the moment she would chastise him for thinking of such thing. But all that came was a ‘huh’.

Susie was right next to him, clearly thinking as she made a circle with her thumb against two fingers. “It’s possible. It’s been done in places like Germany and Denmark. It’s very high class, almost impossible when I think about the amount of steps it’d take-”

“Could you do it by next saturday?”

Susie held back a cackle. She snorted preciously, making her curls puff out like a blow fish. “Oh, yeah. That’s exactly what I was saying. Anyway, I think I can try but, Denmark did not end well.”

Dante blinked, tilting his head. “What do you mean?”

Susie took his hand and stared right into his eyes. “She turned into seafoam cause her spell had a deadline and she essentially decided to kill herself because the boy she was in love with didn’t love her. Do you get why I’m nervous as fuck?”

Dante nodded. “But does every single spell to be human end in sea foam?”

Susie sighed, already more than aware he would never leave a chance if he could. “No, they all have deadlines. The one in Germany would make you turn into a fish on land and most likely dry up. The best I can do is five days. And the only one I have is the seafoam.”

Dante scrunched up bodily, shaking his head almost as if he was getting slime out of his hair. “Ugh, that does not sound fun. What do I need to do to not be seafoamed?”

“Ya gotta kiss him and or get him to go down on ya. In the egg laying sense-”

“You’re acting like we don’t have sex as a species.”

Susie giggled, her tail squirming.

Dante smiled with her but his gears were going full speed. “But, that’s not the hard part is it?”

Sus tilted her head and bit her lip. “Ya can’t talk with him. You only know each other cause of your chats right?” Dante nodded, already prepared for the rationale to come. “Your voice is the most important thing you two have, so you have to make him love you and show that love ‘physically’ without speech. You can use loopholes and stuff but, you have to sacrifice your voice for a chance with him.”

“Can I talk to him after I kiss him?”

“Oh, undoubtedly.” 

“What kind of loopholes can I use?”

Susie shrugged. “Ask him if he knows someone who speaks sign language or write to him. Writing always works if they believe you.”

Dante just nodded, drumming his shoulders as he thought it through. “And you think you can make it?"

Susie smiled to him. “I'm more than sure. I'm just scared for you.”

He breathed in slowly thoughts going a mile a minute. He wanted this. So fucking bad. He squeezed his hands and he still knew he wanted this.  
“I want this. I want to see if he loves me. If he doesn't, I'll kiss him myself.”

Susie nodded, taking his shoulder as he stared her down. “Then you shall.”


	5. Coronation at Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So um... I'm gonna mix the orig Hans Anderson story and a revised version of the Disney plot basically, so the main objective for Dante and Ari is having a functional relationship regardless of their separate lives and species. I'll work on a functioning relationship in the next couple chapters, like currently they just have a mutual crush they don't know is mutual. Plus Ari is uncharacteristically aware of himself so far and hopefully gonna get to his normal self conflicted self. I'm not great at five, obviously. Any way, enjoy.

Aristotle’s crowning was to be given on the sea on his father’s prized ship, La Santa Catalina. Dante could see her from the depths of the water, the vast bow as wide as a bobbing whale. She had a grisly picture of a weeping woman covered in ropes on her bow and the way she tore through the water made fish cave around her. Even from the depths the bright lights from the party on the deck spilled into the waves and made scales dance. Dante almost forgot how close he was to home as he launched to the surface, smile streaking behind him. He clutched the small flask around his neck, rusted and screwed tighter than a new clam. His gift was almost as important as him, how else was he going to show Ari his feelings. Call him dramatic but it felt like the best option. 

Catalina had dropped her anchor since sundown and the moon was as high as midday sun, bringing a cold light to dance with the candlelit army on board. Men and women of Ari’s age surrounded him, a girl with long black hair in a bright silver dress leaning against him. Dante growled as he gripped the narrow bottom rung of the boat, but he didn’t move yet. He would have all the time in the world once he got his attention.

The prince seemed uneasy, looking to the water constantly and letting the girl next to him talk of his ear. Dante wondered if she was his guard and if she was dressed so shockingly to draw away attention. His thought was proven wrong though as a tall woman in leather armour lead him away from the slick looking girl. He wondered if he was expected to court her. He felt proud to have distracted Ari from such a pretty girl, even if he should’ve felt bad that he left Ari in unease by not calling him over. He was content to watch as Aristotle made casual conversation to a man who was holding his shoulder gently and the woman at his side. Dante assumed there were his parents given their similarities in appearance. He could tell even from the water that Ari had gotten his sharp nose from his mother, and his tangled chocolate curls from his giant of a father. They looked as regal as any family, even in their pressed suits and lapels. Dante liked that about them, their simplicity. 

Ari only spotted Dante once he slipped away from the dance and shanties that were ringing from the bow. Dante pulled his head up as Ari turned the corner close to him, lifting himself over the rim of the boat with his arms. Ari almost yelled at the sudden cascade of water and scales as Dante struggled to his eye level, fins spread wide in joy.

“Oh, bleeding Christ, what are you doing!?”  
“I came to give you your gift!”

Ari sighed, running his hand over his face. “How long have you been hiding there?”

Dante shrugged. “Half an hour. No one saw me.”

“Well, they’ll see this,” he motioned to his soaked suit in exasperation, “how am I supposed to explain this?”

“Dolphin, duh. You’re in their waters. Our waters too, but I convinced mother to not let something come after you. You’re welcome.”

Ari just rolled his eyes, trying to fight the smile creeping over his face. He couldn’t keep his happiness in seeing the creature out of his tone though. “Well, I’m glad you could make it. I still have to ask what you’ve brought that was so important you couldn’t give it to me tomorrow.”

Dante flashed his teeth, less gunk covered than usual. He held up the flask tied around his neck and held it out to him. “I want you to know that this is going to change us both. It’s a potion. Do you wanna guess what it does?”

Ari tilted his head, examining the barnacle encrusted container. It barely glinted in the moonlight, but it seemed to pulsate a soft pink somehow. “Something to do with passion? It's red isn't it?”

Dante chuckled, taking it back in his sharp claws. “It will help that, yes, but it'll help both of us. I just want to know that you'll help once I've downed this.”

Ari looked over his shoulder before kneeling in front of the merboy. He took one of Dante's webbed hands, rubbing his thumb along the tight scales that always proved he was real, and smiled with sincerity flowing from his eyes.

“Dante, I'll do everything I can possibly do to help you. Just ask.”

Dante bit his lip, his scales were warm where Ari was touching him. Fuck he was so cute. Ari looked so honest and open and nervous for him. Why the hell couldn’t he have just had a tail? Why did this have to be some stupid tragedy of a love story? He couldn’t focus on that right now. He had to tell him.

“Remember what I joked about when we first met? About giving you a tail?”

Ari chuckled, smile widening. “Of course.”

Dante leaned his head against Ari’s forehead, whispering softly. “Soon you’ll met a mute boy. He’ll look a lot like me, I promise you that. Give him legs. All he wants are legs like you. He has your present. But even if you don’t want it, please give him legs. He needs them. Do you understand?”

Ari nodded slowly, pulling the mermaid towards him in a loose hug. “Dante, why does he need legs?”

He brushed a claw against the solid cheekbones of the dark boy as he leaned back into the water. “Do you like fairytales, Ari?”

Ari shrugged. He once loved when his mother told him stories, but he hadn't heard many since.

“He wants to have a happy ending. The kind fairytales don't always give you.” Dante sighed against Ari’s hand, prying it gently as he attempted to slid back into the cold comfort of the water. “The boy’s legs aren't permanent, he needs you to help make them stay. Do you understand?”

Ari took his hand and pulled Dante back as he tried to slide into the waves, leaning so far over the rail that he almost fell in. “Why are you giving me a boy? Why aren't you giving it to me?”

Dante smirked. “He'll tell you. I swear, you'll understand when he can speak again. His legs come with a voice.”

Dante pulled Ari’s hands from his and slid into the waves before Ari could stop him, hiding himself deep under the curved underbelly of the vessel. He could feel Ari’s feet as he must've tried to look over for him. He didn't let his heart stir. He risked drowning if he drank the potion this far out in the ocean. He bobbed up once he heard Ari leave to where the boat was pulsating with people. He watched with a soft smile as Ari talked animatedly with the girl in leather. Ari's eyes met his for a second, and the boy beamed as he lost focus on anything but Dante in the water. That was the last thing he saw before being dragged by his tail into the waves.


	6. Desperate Times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopeful I'll post the next chapter soon, I just need to edit it a bit, thanks.

Aristotle dropped his glass as he ran to the side of the ship he saw Dante be pulled from. Ari didn’t even think as he jumped in after the drowned merboy. He heads Ileana’s scream as he fell into the waves. Gina was calling his name as he broke from the freezing waves. He paddled as fast as he could, trying to see through the darkness of the water. He could feel the waves below him twist and lash at him, swimming towards a writhing figure below the darkness as he struggled not to focus on the freezing cold. 

His clothes were heavy and he was struggling to keep his head up. His lungs burned, his limbs ached, everything was pure turmoil all around him. And suddenly he was being pulled up out of the waves. He hugged the body tight, gripping spun shoulders as he lost consciousness. Everything hurt. But, he was okay, someone had him. 

He’d be taken out of the water and he’d be okay. He ignored the scales pressed against his leg and let it drag him through the water, his head lolling against its frilled spines. He didn't even feel the sting of salt in the new cut on his cheek or his fingers. He felt consciousness leave him as he heads a growl behind him.   
\-----

Dante’s blood was boiling. He clawed at the net around his chest, smacking some random guard he was sure Daniel had bribed to catch him like a rabid animal. He practically launched himself out of the water at the bastard holding Aristotle like a trophy catch. He screamed as he felt his nails latch into Daniel’s face, slicing through his scaled skin like limp paper. He pulled Daniel away from the limp body, pushing him deeper into the water as he picked the boy up as far above the water as he could. Ari’s blood was already staining his fingers as he held the body over him. 

“Ari? Ari?!” He held his face as he struggled to feel Ari’s chest move. He buried a scream. “Fuck, Ari, don’t leave me. I need you. You can make it, Aristotle, I know you will. You can make it, love.”

He swam as fast as he could, watching a group of small rowboats roll off the ship. They were already coming after him but they didn’t know what Ari would need. He swam quickly, holding Aristotle to his chest as he kept his body underneath the water. He knew he was moving blind to the cove, but he couldn’t think of anywhere else. There was no close land and at least the cove was ingrained in his memory. He ignored the rippling around his tail, ignored the shots of Aristotle’s name. He was too selfish to let anything take him and try to save his prince when he knew he was faster than their heavy boats. 

Crabs and gropers were trying to pull out his scales, but he kept moving, screaming into the sea as he felt pain in his tail. He thought he heard a woman scream siren from far off in the rowboats he had passed long ago. He would’ve cackled if his tail didn’t sting so bad. 

When he reached the lip of the cove he threw himself onto land, shaking his tail wildly. He could hear the clatter of crabs on stone. He climbed deeper into the cavern, panting as he clutched Ari’s sleeping body to him. The boy was breathing but shallowly. He laid the boy down and quickly began to press down on his chest and gave him mouth to mouth. Ari was sputtering out water but he wouldn’t open his eyes. He listened to his rapidly beating heart and found comfort in its rhythm. He pets the boy’s hair, sighing shakily as he held him tight. 

Dante was already starting to dry up, it hurt to breathe. He was too far from the water. He could try dragging himself into a well or trench, but he couldn’t drag himself there without tearing his tail even more. He sat up with a groan and shivered at the sight of his bloody tail. Ari’s wounds were better but he knew he needed to get the salt water out of it. It wasn’t hard for mermaids, scales get rid of water, easy. But he needs to breathe. He unscrewed the flask with shaky fingers, gulping the potion and shuddering as his body started to burn. He groaned as his stomach contracted and he felt as if a sword was slowly sawing at his tail. He refused to look at it, instead of drawing Ari closer to him and digging his fingers into his silky hair. He kissed the prince’s wounds as he shivered in pain, burying his tears in his hair. 

When Dante passed out, he could hear Daniel screaming his name. He couldn’t help the soft chuckle that left him.

“Do you hear him, Ari? He only worries about me when I want him dead. How petty of him. He won’t find us though. No one’s gonna hurt you anymore, I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”

He pets Ari’s hair as he fell into unconsciousness from the cold and the pain.


	7. The Mute Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this is short, also it's not gonna drag out the main plot of most adaptations of the Little Mermaid cause I didn't want the mute thing to be the main conflict, I want the relationship and different perspectives too, I'm also keeping the parts from the original Hans Christian story to provide conflict.

When Aristotle woke up, there was a naked boy wrapped around his shoulders. Ari cringed at the cuts covering his shoulders and fingers, his face hurting even more than his stinging shoulders. He couldn’t help but jump as he saw the boy’s legs though. His entire lower half was lit red in the pale moonlight, blood drying down his thighs. If Ari couldn’t have seen the skin, he’d have thought the boy’s thighs had been flayed. 

He shook the body gently and the boy startled, limbs moving wildly, before going still as he looked down at his body. His mouth was open but nothing came from his mouth. He flashed Ari a grin before he focused on the wound on his face The boy was quick to pull Ari close to him and brushed sand and grit off him to get to his cuts. He wet his thumb and dug dirt from Ari’s stinging cheek. He dragged Ari over to the edge of one of the trenches, one Ari could easily see the bottom of. He pulled out weeds with preciseness and begins to press salt soaked moss into his cut cheek. The boy held him cautiously as he tensed from the sting. 

“Ah! What’s that for?”

The boy tilts his head before leaning back and pointing a finger at all of the scars with a face that was screaming ‘are you really serious’. He rolled his eyes and went back to digging dirt and sand from wounds with moss, while he patted the clump in his cheek to keep it from falling out. 

“Okay, I get what you’re doing, but I am not the issue. I’m fine, you should let me help.”

The boy shook his head as he kept working at him, sandy hair flicking water onto his face. Aristotle couldn’t help chuckling as the water hit him, ignoring how the boy went to his still wounded shoulder with a clump of sea lettuce. He cringed, gritting his teeth at the burn, but the boy rubbed his back through it. The boy was quick to take his shoulder softly, smiling as he brushed away dead blood and tied the weed to his shoulder with a stringy vine as Ari stared down at it. 

“Are you sure this will help?” The boy just nodded, moving on to the cuts on his neck. “Are you okay though? That blood’s still fresh. I can help you too.”

The boy froze and followed Ari’s eyes down to his legs. Ari felt sick as the blood drained from the boy’s face. Ari was quick to wrap around the boy as he shook and cried with wheezing sobs as he ran fingers through the streaks of blood covering him. He kept touching his thighs and cringing, tears drawing trenches in his face.

“Don't touch it!” Ari gripped the boy’s hands to his chest, meeting his wide brown eyes. “You're hurting yourself. Let me help you.” The boy nodded, sniffling with runny eyes and nose. He was tempted to whisper like Dante would when he was struggling to swim. The mermaid was always gently and encouraging when his legs hurt or he felt something on him. He couldn’t think like Dante could though, so he just rubbed the boy’s back as he focused on his wounds. 

The boy tensed up as Ari cautiously straightened his legs. “Tell me if anything hurts.” Ari tensed as he felt warm blood against his hands. “I'm gonna tie them like you did, don't get scared, okay?”

The boy nodded, panting as he stared at the dripping blood. Ari was fast to pull his soaked blazer and dress shirt off him, shivering at the sudden cold in his cotton undershirt. He tore at the blue silk his mother had forced him into the night before, lining up the strip he tore to a slice across the boy’s thigh. He tied it off quickly and moved to cover as many of the weeping cuts as possible until the boy’s legs were coated in stained ribbons. He was avoiding causing any pain until his fingers slipped against a wound, making the boy cry out sharply, startling the both of them. 

“Oh, god, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Please tell me you’re alright.”

The boy’s eyes were pleading as he took his throat in his hand and slowly spoke out words. It took Ari a moment but he had met deaf and mute people before.

“You can’t speak can you?” The boy nodded, staring down at his legs. “Well, are you okay?”

He nodded, leaning against Dante. He held him to his side as he went back to bandaging the cut he’d accidentally upset. 

“God, you are absolutely covered in this. I’m running out of cloth. Did you run into something?” 

The boy nodded. Ari tied the last of the obvious cuts and rested his hands on his knee, looking the boy right in his eyes.

“Could you somehow tell me what happened, because I am going to have to take you out of here and get us medical treatment. I don’t want you to die, regardless of who you are or who did this. Could you please tell me why you’re bleeding?” 

The boy looked Aristotle in the eyes, letting out a soft sigh. He looked behind him and groped blindly for a rusted object lying on its side a couple feet away. Ari leaned towards it to help the boy and could only gawk as he watched the boy hold the rusted metal flask he had last seen dangling around Dante’s neck. Aristotle couldn’t stop blinking at the object that was flashing light in his eyes. He cautiously took the flask from his hands and stared at it, seeing a neon pink fluid thinly lining the bottom. 

“Are you the boy that Dante told me to give legs?”  
The boy was grinning as he nodded, squeezing Ari’s arm as he stared into his eyes.   
“Can I give you legs so we can talk?”  
The boy’s head looked like it would spin off he was nodding so fast. Ari gulped as he cautiously moved his hand from his shoulder. 

He didn’t have any qualms about kissing the boy. He was awfully pretty, no matter how much he knew he was obsessed over Dante. But, Dante brought him to Ari, said he was a gift bearer, like a median between them. He could do this, undoubtedly, but he had to forget that he was kissing a stranger. He closed his eyes and kissed the sandy boy quickly, mind swimming with beautiful boys with tails instead of the comfort he felt kissing a bleeding stranger.


	8. A Potion for a Prince

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter to tide ya over, sorry I left this for so long, my finals and AP courses were hell.

      Dante gaped as he stared at the tight face of Ari, eyes shut and hands balled at his side. He was still covered in green patches of seaweed, something Susie had taught him when he got caught in a crashed ship. She had to help him treat his tail for two weeks then. He chanted softly, the words Susie had done for him as his blood colored the water. Ari let out a small gasp and froze at the sudden feeling of warmth Dante knew all too well. He only knew the chant because Susie had been practicing it on him since he was ten. He shuddered as he felt the energy from him fade, taking Ari’s hand to feel the finally buzz of his energy leave him.

“Are you okay Ari?” Aristotle’s eyes met him so fast, that Dante couldn’t help but smile at his gaping mouth. “I know you don’t like the idea of magic but, I think I’m good proof that it exists.”

“... Dante? How the fuck did you get legs?”

      “I already showed you the vial, didn't I?”

Ari had never blinked so many in times in only a minute. Dante just rolled his eyes, leaning on his bony fingers. He felt exposed without his scales, like he could feel everything, even the dust mites in the wind, on his raw skin.  He shuddered at the cold early morning sea breeze. 

      “I wasn't kidding about being friends with a sea witch, Ari. This is your present, getting to bask in my gratitude and attention. Or, having me as an actual friend. The kiss was just so we could talk.”

       Ari blinked, words crawling from his throat. “Dante you- you look nothing like you do in the water. Your hair and face didn't change much but, your eyes aren’t slits. Your teeth are clean. You lost your fins and gills! God, you look… bare without them. Do you feel okay?”

       Dante shrugged, smile dancing on his lip. “The legs hurt. I think I’m okay though. Thank you, Ari. For trusting me.”

       Aristotle was cautious as he took a heavy curl of hair in his fingers. His thumb just barely brushed the boys cheek and Ari held a breathe as he felt a soft cheek against his knuckle. It was so strange to lose the glide of scales to the small pores of skin. Ari just hummed at the loss, giving him a brush of comfort. Dante hummed instead of his cat like purr. It was almost surreal how he'd expected the thin boy to purr.

       “It wasn't hard to give you legs, actually. I guess it just means I'll always trust you. You’re my best friend. I still can't believe you've done this. Will you stay awhile?”

         Dante grinned, as wide and playful as any sharp smile he’d given prior. “Something tells me I have all the time in the world.”

         Dante leaned his head on Ari's forehead as he let out the deepest sigh he could muster. They had a long way to go, but the first step was finally beginning, and he knew he'd soon walk as well as he could swim. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have very little planned but I'm excited to see the reactions, hope you liked.


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